New Dramatists, founded in 1949, offers a haven for playwrights to develop their craft via workshops, staged readings, awards and prizes. Readings of new plays are also crucial to the process, and several are lined up in the weeks ahead. Up next:

• April 4, 7 PM: Interior Landscape -- Harding Lemay, a New Dramatists alum, writes of loyalties and betrayals among three female friends, who met in acting school and doing summer stock.

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New Dramatist membership lasts for a seven-year span, with alumni including Robert Anderson, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson, Richard Foreman, William Inge, Donald Margulies, Terrence McNally, Suzan-Lori Parks, John Patrick Shanley, Mac Wellman and many more.

This year's new crop of New Dramatists include: Carter, David Lindsay Abaire, Mark Bazzone, John Beluso, Bridget Carpenter, Lisa D'Amour (Homefree), Karen Hartman (Gum), Lynn Nottage (Mud, River, Stone, Crumbs From The Table Of Joy, Por'knockers). Readings are free but require reservations. For information call (212) 757-6960.

-- By David Lefkowitz